Thirty Days With a Tactical Horse
by TheTinyRavioli
Summary: Armin is intelligent, serious, and strong yet weak. Jean is stubborn, honest, and a human yet a horse. It's a match made in heaven. (Thirty Day Challenge: Jearmin Ratings may change)
1. 1: Bed

"Hey, Armin, do you think we could share beds for a while?" Jean looked down at the smaller, blonde boy sitting on his own bed as he slung his duffle bag over his shoulder casually. The duel-haired boy hoped that Armin would say yes so he wouldn't have to sleep on the floor of the boys' dormitory, not that there was a significant difference between how the floors and beds felt. Besides, no other boy would be as willing to share as Armin would be (or so Jean predicted).

"But Eren's in the top bunk...? What happened to you and Marco's beds? Armin slid his boots off one by one as he spoke.

"Our beds... Got caught up in some of Connie's shenanigans," Jean remembered how Connie and Sasha brought out their mattresses to use as trampolines. For whatever reason the two troublemakers had thought it would be a good idea to use their beds, Jean would never know. "Besides, I meant share your bed with you," Jean was assured that if he put up enough of a fight, Armin wouldn't say no.

"What bed is Marco taking?"

"I let him have the last mattress they had, it's pretty crummy but it's better than having to sleep on the floor."

"I'm pretty sure he'd let you guys share the bed though," Armin was puzzled; Marco was Jean's best friend, he'd obviously share the mattress with Jean.

"Yeah, I suggested it but he said that he'd take the floor instead since he's got bad sleeping habits or something. I don't want him to sleep on the floor so I let him have it? How many more questions are there gonna be, I can always share with someone else if you don't want to."

"N-No, I didn't mean it like that! Yeah, we can share; I don't know how Eren will take it though..."

Jean's face relaxed when he got Armin's consent but then it automatically became rigid once more as he remembered that Eren was in fact sleeping in the bed above Armin's and now his own. A snort came from the top bunker, Jean almost jumped out of his own skin when Eren's eyes appeared from behind the railing of his bed. As soon as eye contact was made between the two, an immediate scowl set itself on Jean's face.

"Lookie here, Je- I mean, Horseface wants to sleep with Armin," Eren snickered when he saw the small blush gracing Jean's cheeks and ears.

"Don't be so crude. Oh wait, you can't help it can you? What with your brain being the size of a titan's and all," Jean growled back, the usual for the two.

Armin wasn't sure if he should interrupt or not but his train of thought was cut off by a soldier opening the door to the dormitory and reminding that it was time for light's out. The boys in the dorm scurried around, diminishing each candlelight and lantern so that they wouldn't end up getting in trouble. Eren scowled, he'd save teasing and arguing with Jean for tomorrow. Armin scooted over to make room for Jean, "Sorry, there's not much room."

"Nah it's alright, sorry for making you share with me," Jean shoved his bag in the space below the bed and slid into the bed.

"No, no! It's nothing to be sorry about at all!"

Whispering harshly, Eren interrupted the two boys, "Are you two gonna sleep or keep having your little moment?"

Armin blushed at Eren's teasing and quickly apologized. Jean and Armin both lied on their sides facing away from each other. Armin said good night to both Jean and Eren, his voice slowed with sleepiness.

"Night, Armin."

"What the hell, horseface? I don't get a good night?"

The only response given was exaggerated snoring on Jean's part.


	2. Day 2: Awkward

_**Day 2: Awkward**_

The bed felt awfully warm today to Jean; the bed was never this warm usually. Nor did he have a body pillow. If this was a dream, it was a weird one.

'_Jean'_

Jean swatted in the direction of voice and shoved his face deeper into his pillow.

'Jean, you should wake up.'

"Not now... T' bed's really warm," Jean's voice was muffled by the pillow. He was on the verge of going back to sleep completely.

'Eren, he's not getting up, what do I do?'

'I think you should let him stay like that and wait till the loser wakes up so Shadis has his ass, that's what you should do.'

'Eren! Not only is that cruel but I'll get in trouble too!'

'Ugh, fine.'

'Oi, horseface! Get your ass up!"

Jean jumped out of his dream-like state and collided his and Eren's foreheads; Jean immediately lying back down while holding his bruising forehead.

"Tch- What the hell, Jaeger?"

"What the hell yourself, horse-boy! Get up and off of Armin!"

Off of Armin? What?

And then it hit him.

He had shared a bed with Armin.

He had used Armin as a body pillow.

The person sleeping above him was Eren Jaeger.

Fucking hell.

Sure enough when Jean looked at Armin, one of his legs laid on Armin's own and he hadn't even realized it. Jean jumped up and hit his head on the platform of the top bunk.

"Shit- I'm really sorry Armin!" Jean apologized as he scrambled out of the blankets and stumbled to his feet in front of Eren.

"You li-" Jean started but was cut off by a loud crack as the door to the boys' dormitory was kicked open by none other than Shadis himself.

"YOU GOD DAMN SLACKERS AREN'T EVEN FULLY DRESSED YET AND YOU'RE MAKING A RUCKUS?"

All three of the boys gulped nervously as their eyes widened at the sight of Shadis angry so early in the morning. Shadis' footfalls echoed throughout the dorm as he made his way towards the trio. All the other boys in the dorm made their way to get out as soon as possible without garnering attention from the bald horror stomping around like it was no tomorrow. As soon as Shadis was in an arm's approximity, the three boys' hearts were pounding so wildly, it wouldn't have been a surprise if Shadis himself could hear it. Shadis' eyes focused on Jean and Eren's foreheads where the skin began to swell a bit and become darker.

"LOOKS LIKE THE TWO DIPSHITS WERE BUTTING HEADS AGAIN?"

Shadis continued as his cold stare went from Jean and Eren to poor Armin, still in bed, **"ISN'T THAT RIGHT, YOU FUCKING LAZY ASS ARLERT?"**

-Time Skip to Later That Day-

"And it's all your fault that we have kitchen duty and no dinner today, Jean. I should just skin you right here and now," Eren pointed the potato peeler at Jean.

"Now, now Eren, Jean didn't mean to do this," Armin tried to douse the fire Eren was going to start but to no avail.

"It's your fault for yelling so loudly, you little shit," Jean hissed through gritted teeth as he knicked himself with the peeler again.

Eren was about to retalliate when Armin spoke up, "You didn't actually have to yell that loud, Eren..."  
Astonished, Eren's eyes widened and he spoke up, "You're taking Horseface's side?!"

"I'm not taking any sides, you both should just apologize because it's not like we can get out of duty and no dinner," Armin stated simply as he continued to peel the potatoes neatly.

Both Jean and Armin were somewhat embarassed with themselves as they screwed their faces up with bitterness and continued their job in silence. It was one thing to be reprimanded but it was another thing to be reprimanded so honestly by none other than Armin.

"But y'know Jean, your feet get really cold during the night. It doe-"

"Shut up!"


	3. Day 3: Curiosity

_**Day 3 Curiosity**_

The sound of rushing water filled the boys' shower room and the chatter of boys echoed and created a lively atmostphere. Steam billowed upwards and swarmed the ceiling and floor, creating a foggy appearance. Jean, followed by Armin, who in turn was followed by Eren all walked into the showers with towels hanging loosely on their boyish hips.

"Y'know Jean, you and Armin have gotten awfully close the past few days, haven't you? If I had a say in this, I'd say you might just be going gay for Armin," Eren sneered at the tallest male of the three.

"And that's exactly why you don't _have_ a say in anything," Jean mentally praised himself for being so sassy as he whipped off his towel and strode to underneath a showerhead, turning it on. He didn't hear Eren murmuring 'No need to act like a stripper.'

Armin and Eren both followed in suit and turned on their showers, Armin to Jean's left and Eren to Armin's.

Jean began to gingerly scrub his arms with a small bit of the soap rations they had given him. He honestly hated the way the soap scratched at his skin and the pine essence it gave off, if he killed for anything, it'd be a decent bar of soap. Grimacing visibly, he felt the granules of the soap rub roughly against his skin, Armin cleared his throat to gain Jean's attention.

"Do you want to borrow my soap? I think Connie stole this from Shadis' bathroom, actually..." Armin frowned slightly when he thought about what Connie had to go through to get the bar of soap.

"Nah, I wouldn't want to waste it. It's your's," Jean honestly didn't want to waste Armin's soap when he had his own shitty soap to use. "It wouldn't be fair to you."

"No really! It's not like you'll be using up the whole thing," Armin insisted as he held the soap out to Jean to take.

"Well, if you insist..." Jean hesitantly took the bar from Armin. Jean's longer, calloused fingers rubbed against Armin's smaller and softer ones; his heart thumped noticeably yet he brushed it off as nothing to be concerned about.

"Man! This soap is great!" It seemed silly for Jean to get excited over soap but it's been so long since he's sudded a bar of soap so smoothly before. Not to mention that it had a pretty clean scent too, unlike the soap the training legion rationed out. Armin chuckled in response when he saw Jean's content smile. Handing back the soap to Armin, Jean accidentally glanced down, getting a good look at the blonde boy in all his naked glory. "Y'know, you're pretty small."

"W-What?! Where'd that come from, Jean?!" Armin stuttered and in the back, Eren laughed loudly.

"Just a thing I noticed. I guess you're a late bloomer, haha," Jean teased Armin and laughed at his flustered expression, "For a man to be that size, it's almost cute."

"You're... That's not supposed to be cute, Jean!"

"That was literally probably one of the most gay things you've ever said," Eren lifted his eyebrow up at Jean.

Jean blushed within recognition of what he said could have been taken out of context, "I didn't mean it like _that! _At least we're not comparing like the other guys do in the showers over," Jean scowled when he got his point across.

"Besides, I'm only interested in women."

_'...Right?'_


	4. Day 4: Tears

The boys of the 104th Training Squad gathered around Instructor Shadis as he explained the proper way to disarm an offender holding a weapon. Using Bertholdt as a dummy, Shadis continues, "Make sure you don't leave an opening, otherwise you've already fucking lost it for yourself." And with that, the instructor kneed the tall, nervous boy in the stomach, further proving his point.

A dead silence swamped over the boys closest to the center where Shadis stood and Bertholdt lay crumpled in pain. Thinking nobody would hear him, Jean snorted at Bertholdt and whispered to himself, "That was such an obvious mistake." Marco, who stood right next to Jean tried to shush him but was already heard by none other than Keith Shadis.

Oh the Lord have mercy on Jean because he would need it.

"What did I hear Kirschtein?" Shadis' loud voice ripped through the air as he said with his back facing Jean.

Eyes widened in shock and then furrowed in concentration, Jean stuttered over his words but soon regained his composure, "I said it was an obvious mistake, Sir!"

Jean's back snapped straight as he put his arms at his side and stared straight ahead with hard eyes.

"Well if you're so goddamn sure of yourself, you won't mind coming up here and being my _next example_, huh?" Shadis sneered down at Jean as he finally turned around to face the boy with his intense glare. Bertholdt scrambled away from Shadis as soon as his back was turnt, going off to Reiner or perhaps to cry over the internal bleeding his instructor may or may not have caused.

Jean took a sharp breath in, honestly the last thing he wanted was to be _Instructor Shadis'_ little punching bag today but he knew it was his sharp tongue that caused this all.

Quite frankly, these were days he wished he wasn't as brash and honest as he was.

Marco looked worried as Jean took a tentative step forward towards the older man full of authority in front of them. He silently prayed that Jean wouldn't get too roughed up.

"Well maggot, let's see if you've actually learnt anything," Shadis barked at Jean to make the first move and so he did.

Jumping out with his left foot spring behind him, Jean raised his right fist, his left pulled back behind him but stilll ready to retalliate if needed. As he threw the punch, Shadis caught his hand easily and with a vice-like grip.

'Shit!' Jean thought to himself over and over again.

The instructor brough his right foot out behind him, readying it to swing at Jean's torse at any moment. Shadis swung his leg with almost godly speed and Jean quickly blocked it with his own leg, brought up to protect his abdomen.

KRACK

"F-fuck!" Jean rasped out, his voice cracked in surprise. That was a mistake on his part; blocking a kick with the bone of his leg was not the smartest idea he'd come up with. Jean glanced over Shadis' shoulder and saw the gentle eyes of Armin staring intently at him, almost piercing his very ego. The moment they made eye contact, Shadis threw an undercut right into Jean's jaw, bringing him back to reality.

"Good job at getting distracted, Kirschtein. Real fucking good," and with that, Shadis kneed him in the stomach much like he did with Bertholdt. The air having been knocked out of Jean, he lay on his knees in a fetal position as he clutched his stomach. Tears naturally sprung to his eyes but Jean would never let anyone see them.

"That's it for today, you shitheads! To the shower rooms!" Clearly in a sour mood, Shadis stomped off after staring at Jean for a few more seconds.

Slowly the group of boys disappeared, Marco stayed right by Jean as he lay crumpled on the ground. His ego somewhat broken down from the prior beating he received.

"Jean, I'll meet you in shower house B, I'll get your stuff for you," Marco had felt that Jean needed the time alone to fix his broken pride. Rubbing him on the back reassuringly, Marco got up and left.

Unbeknowest to Jean, Armin was still there. Still unnoticed, Armin walked up to Jean and crouched in front of him.

"Jean..." Armin tugged gently at random pieces of Jean's hair, trying to get his attention, "Jean."

Slowly, the dual-haired boy looked up, his mouth set in a small frown that showed his genuine disapproval of what happened. His eyes were still somewhat teary from the pain.

"What, Armin?" Jean muttered grimly, sitting up yet still clutching his sides.

"You're crying, Jean," Armin plainly pointed out.

"What?!" Jean was surprised as he frantically rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands, much like a child would. To his dismay, he felt the wetness of the tears on his palms. Armin was right.

"Shit..." Jean muttered. He was very embarassed to say the least. To be beaten by Shadis in front of all the 104th Training Squad's boys and to be caught crying by Armin Arlert. Supposedly the weakest of all the boys.

Jean was having a dandy day.

Armin chuckled at Jean, "You really are like Eren sometimes, you know? But with your own personality though."

"Don't compare me with that brat!" Jean snarled (without actual agression of course) at Armin.

The sun, beginning to set cast orange-tinted shadows across everything in its path. As Jean stared up at Armin, he could see the boy's pure features contouring in the shadows of the sunset.

"Haha, you're so cute Jean," Armin said it so lightly, Jean's heart fluttered at Armin's clean laughter. Come to think of it, this was the first time Jean heard Armin laugh.

Oh what a joy. It was Jean's first time hearing Armin's laugh and it was Armin's first time seeing Jean cry. Jean felt that it wasn't exactly fair.

Armin stood up, holding his hand out for Jean to take, "We should get going before we get in trouble, a_gain._"

Jean gave Armin an uncourtous scowl and nodded his hand away.

"Yeah, yeah. I can get up by myself, y'know."


End file.
